25 Things That Happened In Early ’00s Movies That Would So Not Be Okay Today

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There are some things that are socially acceptable in one decade and not in the next.

This results in certain movies becoming outdated. For example, there are many films in the early ‘00s that had socially acceptable storylines and social constructions. Yet those early ‘00s movies wouldn’t hold up in our socially and politically correct society today.

Below is a list of 25 things that happened in early ‘00s movies that would so not be okay today.

1. Switching Genders: In the early ‘00s movie She’s The Man, Violet had to pretend she was a boy to get on the soccer team. Though this movie was pretty popular when it got released back in 2006 this storyline wouldn’t hold up today. Violet could easily be successful on a female soccer team at any school she went to. She wouldn’t need to switch genders in order to play the game she loved.

2. He Loves You When You Wear A Mask: In the early ‘00s movie A Cinderella Story, Sam had to wear a mask to the ball for a boy to fall for her. The storyline of covering your face so a boy will love you wouldn’t hold up today. Instead, the girl would be exposing her face and every other aspect of her and if they guy liked her then he did. And if he didn’t, well he didn’t, but that wouldn’t make much of an interesting movie.

3. Teachers Dating Students: The early ‘00s movie The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants had a love interest storyline between student Bridget and teacher Eric. Even though Eric was a relatively young teacher it wouldn’t be something that was okay to happen in movies today. The reason for this is because there’s a lot of talk about changing the age difference between men and women in on-screen relationships so they are relatively the same age. Another reason is that in real life this would be completely unacceptable.

4. A Man Flashing 13-Year-Old Minded Woman: In the early ‘00s movie 13 Going On 30, Jenna got flashed by a grown man. Even though Jenna was in her 30-year-old body when this happened she still had the mind of her 13-year-old self. Due to this, this scenario wouldn’t be okay in films today. Movies today are shying away from this type of humor due to what has been recently talked about in the news surrounding sexual assault victims.

5. Make A Beautiful Girl Get A Makeover: In the early ‘00s movie The Princess Diaries, beautiful book-smart Mia was forced to get a makeover to be worthy of being labeled the princess she was. There has been a push recently to label all different looks as beautiful. Due to this, this wouldn’t be okay to see in movies today. If it did happen there might be a bit of pushback from the public.

Disney

6. Having Women Dance Seductively For Money: In the early ‘00s the movie Coyote Ugly, the women who worked at the bar had to dance seductively on tables to make money. It’s pretty obvious why this wouldn’t be acceptable to audiences in a movie today. This is because of the social change that has been happening involving the perception of women in film being more than sexual objects.

7. Body Shaming: In the early ‘00s movie Love, Actually there was subtle body shaming that happened throughout the film surrounding the character of Natalie. This wouldn’t be okay in movies today because of the social change happening involving positive body images in media. Actors such as Amy Schumer have been helping to change the narrative surrounding body shaming in the film industry and beyond.

8. Daughters Unknowingly Fooling Around With Their Dads: In the early ‘00s movie 17 Again a father gets turned into his 17-year-old self and attends high school with his daughter, Maggie. Due to Maggie not knowing he is her father she takes his compliments and care to mean he is attracted to her and proceeds to act inappropriately towards him. This wouldn’t be accepted by audience today because it would make them feel uncomfortable thinking of a daughter hitting on her own father.

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9. How Promiscuous Thirteen-Year-Olds Were: In the early ‘00s movie Thirteen characters Evie and Tracey were extremely promiscuous 13-year-olds. If this came out in a movie today audiences wouldn’t feel comfortable with watching girls who are supposed to be underage acting in extremely promiscuous ways. This is most likely due to the sexual assault cases that have recently been spoken about in the news.

10. Photoshopping Girl On A Model’s Body: In the early ‘00s movie A Walk To Remember a group of teenagers photoshopped a photo of the quiet, nice girl’s face onto a model’s body. Bullying isn’t something that has ever been acceptable but it has become a big topic within schools and on the news in today’s society. That’s why something like this wouldn’t be okay in a movie today. Audiences wouldn’t consider it to be funny and simply wouldn’t see the point of it.

11. Making Bets For Women To Fall For A Friend: In the early ‘00s movie How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days character Benjamin is the source of a big bet among his friends to get a girl to fall in love with him. Today betting on getting a woman to fall in love with a friend wouldn’t be that strong of a thing to happen in a movie. It also wouldn’t be something okay to happen considering it would be toying with a woman’s emotions, which simply isn’t okay.

12. Women Making Bets To See How Long It Takes For A Friend To Drive A Man Away: In the early ‘00s movie How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Andie’s friends bet that she will be able to get a guy to dump her within 10 days. This wouldn’t be a strong storyline to have in a film today and also wouldn’t be okay in movies today because it would be playing with a man’s emotions which isn’t something positive to do.

13. Calling Someone A Lesbian As An Insult: In the early ‘00s movie Mean Girls calling Janice a lesbian was considered to be an insult. Thought this may have been the case back in 2004 when the movie got released, this is no longer the case. If someone called another person a lesbian it was because she labeled herself as a lesbian. Anything that is said against the LGBTQ community in a slanderous way wouldn’t be okay in movies today. Just like it wasn’t okay in Mean Girls for ‘lesbian’ to be used as an insulting word.

14. Someone Making Out With Their Cousin: In the early ‘00s movie Mean Girls the character of Karen said that she made out with her cousin once. She says this in a way that makes it seem like she is entirely okay with this happening, even though all of the other characters are repulsed upon hearing it. If this happened in a movie today audiences would react like all the Mean Girl characters that heard Karen say she made out with her cousin.

15. 100-Year-Old Vamps Dating 17-Year-Old Teenager: In early ‘00s movie Twilight, 100-year-old vampire Edward and 17-year-old human Bella start up a romantic relationship. We are all for this movie being of the fantasy genre and completely not real but at the same time, this age difference in this romantic relationship wouldn’t be okay in movies today. This is due to actors such as Reese Witherspoon and Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking out against the age gap between male and female on-screen couples.

16. For A Pretty Girl To Be Considered Dumb: In the early ‘00s movie Legally Blonde everyone told character Elle Woods that she was too pretty and didn’t need to go to university. Her boyfriend even broke up with her because he was going to University and he thought she was too stupid to go. In movies today this wouldn’t be considered okay because we believe that no matter what you look like you can still be intelligent.

17. Student Dating Her Older Coach: In the early ‘00s movie Bend It Like Beckham, character Jess and her older soccer coach Joe start up a romantic relationship. Though the thought of an interracial relationship is highly appreciated by audiences today, the relationship between a soccer player and their coach isn’t. Making this one thing that wouldn’t be okay in movies today.

18. The Body Switching Storyline: In the early ‘00s movie Freaky Friday, the storyline followed a mother and daughter the swapped bodies. This movie won audiences over when it got released in 2003 but since then, the body swapping storyline has become overkill. It has been done multiple time before and after Freaky Friday, audiences are sick of it.

19. Using Derogatory Terms For Gay People: In the early ‘00s movie Bring It On, character Missy says to her brother that she didn’t know he understood gay language. But instead of stating it as the “gay language” she used a derogatory word for it. This term wouldn’t be acceptable to audiences watching a movie today because it isn’t acceptable to call members of the LGBTQ community anything but what they would want to be called.

20. Having Jokes Around What People Eat: In the early ‘00s movie A Cinderella Story, one of the rude characters, Shelby, asked specifically what she can get that doesn’t include certain items. The response Shelby gets back by her waitress Sam is, “water.” This wouldn’t be okay in a movie today because a lot of people do have dietary restrictions that wouldn’t allow them to eat certain things. Some audience members might not find this little joke funny in movies today.

21. Treating People Who Love You Badly: In the early ‘00s movie The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants, character Tibby states that she treats the people who love her badly because she knows they will always love her. The truth is that in reality, these people will not always love you if you continuously hurt them. If this was a thing that happened in movies today audiences wouldn’t be okay with it because it’s sort of stating that emotional abuse is okay.

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22. White Actors Playing Asian Characters: The early ‘00s American movie Speed Racer, which was based on an anime, changed the Asian characters into Caucasian ones. This wasn’t really accepted by audiences back in 2008 when the movie got released and it definitely isn’t okay to do in movies today. An example of how unaccepted it is in movies today is the recent film Ghost In A Shell that created an uproar on social media when a Caucasian actress got the role of an Asian character.

23. Multiple Women Fighting Over The Same Man: In the early ‘00s movie John Tucker Must Die, multiple women fight over the same cheating man. These women continue to fight over John even when they are planning his imminent downfall. In today’s passionate feminist society, the storyline of women fighting over one man just wouldn’t hold up. Plus, it has been done to death through multiple decades anyways. It’s time that this storyline retires for good.

20th Century FOX

24. Women Are There To Please Men: In the early ‘00s movie Dude, Where’s My Car, the ending of the Film shows women getting breast implants to thank the men for saving the universe. This is definitely something that wouldn’t be okay in a movie today. There is a rise in feminism in today’s society, which is for the better, and because of this something like women getting boob jobs to please men wouldn’t be accepted in a movie today.

25. Female Characters Only Being Love Interests: In the early ‘00s movie Spider-Man, the one with Tobey MaGuire, the character of Mary-Jane is only there as the love interest to Peter Parker. She really doesn’t have any storyline of her own other than to aid Peter’s storyline. This happened in a lot of movies throughout history but it is slowly changing now. Actresses in Hollywood, such as Jessica Chastain, have been pushing for a change in the narrative of female characters only being there to aid in the male character’s storyline. In movies today a female character having no storyline of her own wouldn’t be okay.

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